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Blog and Podcast specializing in offbeat newsSat, 01 Aug 2015 13:52:54 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.5UFO Fleet Over Osaka is the Latest Cluster Sightinghttp://mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/07/ufo-fleet-over-osaka-is-the-latest-cluster-sighting/
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/07/ufo-fleet-over-osaka-is-the-latest-cluster-sighting/#commentsWed, 29 Jul 2015 20:58:07 +0000http://mysteriousuniverse.org/?p=47756A video from Osaka, Japan, shows what appears to be ten orb-shaped UFOs hovering in formation over the city. This follows other smaller cluster sightings in Osaka and more recently in London. Why are UFOs suddenly gathering in groups? The video of the orbs over Osaka was...]]>

A video from Osaka, Japan, shows what appears to be ten orb-shaped UFOs hovering in formation over the city. This follows other smaller cluster sightings in Osaka and more recently in London. Why are UFOs suddenly gathering in groups?

The video of the orbs over Osaka was uploaded on July 27th, 2015, but no indication was given as to when the sighting took place or the exact location of the event. The video lasts for two minutes and shows most of the UFOs maintaining their positions while some seem to move around. Since the video is blurred, identification of the objects is difficult and speculation runs from alien aircraft to balloons.

Some comments compare this sighting to one in London late last month of two UFOs over a rock concert at Hyde Park. Despite the usual references to fireworks, drug use, drones and concert pyrotechnics, no explanation for the brief sighting has been confirmed.

UFOs over a rock concert in London

A previous sighting over Osaka of a cluster of UFOs took place on August 30th, 2012. That triangular group of lights may have been a tight cluster or lights on a single large object. There were multiple reports of the sighting on Twitter and numerous photos were posted, but no explanation was ever given.

Cluster of UFOs seen over Osaka in 2012

Another fleet of UFOs, this time over the US city of Milwaukee, could have been added to this list. It was spotted and recorded by many witnesses on July 25th. Most experts agree this was actually a nighttime parachute jump by the U.S. Army Golden Knights for a local German festival.

That’s one resolved and many more still unexplained, including the group of three UFOs seen on the International Space Station video feed before it was mysteriously cut off.

Are these cluster or fleet sightings merely coincidences or a sign of something happening? Perhaps some organizing activities? By them or by us?

]]>http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/07/ufo-fleet-over-osaka-is-the-latest-cluster-sighting/feed/2Cube UFO Over Texas and Cubic Glowing Orb Over Antarcticahttp://mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/07/cube-ufo-over-texas-and-cubic-glowing-orb-over-antarctica/
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/07/cube-ufo-over-texas-and-cubic-glowing-orb-over-antarctica/#commentsThu, 02 Jul 2015 16:08:52 +0000http://mysteriousuniverse.org/?p=46660It looks like the 2015 model of UFO is the cube. Two mysterious cube-shaped UFO sightings have been getting a lot of attention this week. A strange cube that appears to be in a portal or vortex was photographed by witnesses in Texas while a low-flying cubic...]]>

It looks like the 2015 model of UFO is the cube. Two mysterious cube-shaped UFO sightings have been getting a lot of attention this week. A strange cube that appears to be in a portal or vortex was photographed by witnesses in Texas while a low-flying cubic glowing orb was seen in a video feed from a station in Antarctica.

The cube-shaped Texas UFO was spotted on June 29th, 2015, over El Paso. First posted anonymously, the photograph was eventually attributed to Walter C. Lance. Lance says he first saw nothing but storm clouds. At around 1 pm, he noticed the clouds swirl into a portal or vortex shape. As the center turned black, he took a series of pictures with his cell phone.

Cube UFO in a portal or vortex over El Paso, Texas

While the original photos taken at a distance show a fuzzy cube shape, some of the close-ups appear to be enhanced and others seem to be a different cubic or rectangular UFO. After his posting, another anonymous witness released a picture she took at about the same time of what appears to be the same or similar cube UFO. She also reported hearing a humming sound.

Another image of the El Paso cube UFO taken by a second witness

As expected with a report with little information on such an odd (or some might say menacing) UFO, speculations on what it might be or where it came from are running rampant.

Meanwhile, a photo from what appears to be an observation web camera pointed at Davis Station in Antarctica shows a low-altitude glowing orb that is somewhat cube-shaped.

Magnified image of cubic orb in Antarctica

The image is dated June 28, 2015, but no other information is available. Davis Station is a permanent base managed by the Australian Antarctic Division and located on the coast of Cooperation Sea. There has been no comment on the orb from the AAD.

UFOs have been seen over Antarctica or embedded in the ice before, with the most recent being a Google Maps image of what appears to be a crashed saucer-shaped craft.

Is cubic the new disc? What do you think about these two cube-shaped UFOs?

]]>http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/07/cube-ufo-over-texas-and-cubic-glowing-orb-over-antarctica/feed/22UFO Spotted Over the Statue of Libertyhttp://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/12/ufo-spotted-over-the-statue-of-liberty/
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/12/ufo-spotted-over-the-statue-of-liberty/#commentsFri, 12 Dec 2014 21:53:56 +0000http://mysteriousuniverse.org/?p=39800Give me your tired, your poor, your … extraterrestrials? The Statue of Liberty has welcomed everyone to the shores of New York City and now it appears she can add space aliens to her list. A video taken by a tourist shows what looks like a black...]]>

Give me your tired, your poor, your … extraterrestrials?

The Statue of Liberty has welcomed everyone to the shores of New York City and now it appears she can add space aliens to her list. A video taken by a tourist shows what looks like a black circular UFO above the head of Lady Liberty, moving slowly and stopping and hovering.

Scott Kensington says his wife took the video while visiting New York City with his sister. He attribute the shakiness to the fact that she was freezing and not wearing gloves. The abrupt ending was due to the either the battery running out on her cell phone camera or the storage space getting filled up.

The UFO has no markings other that a grey area on the surface. There are no lights or vapor trails either. The black orb appears to be pulsating. Its speed was slow and constant until it stopped and remained motionless until the video ended.

The first thought of the two women, as well as many who view the video, is that the UFO is a balloon. Solar balloons are usually black to better absorb the sun’s heat. However, the sudden stop and subsequent hovering by the object makes it being a balloon questionable. Also, it appears too large to be a common Mylar balloon or a Chinese lantern.

Is it a drone? Again, the shape and the size suggest otherwise.

Is it a UFO? Unfortunately, the video ends before we can see the rest of the flight path and exit of the orb. Kensington makes no mention of it and no other witnesses have come forth. This being New York City, you might expect fighter jets to be mobilized, but that didn’t seem to happen either.

What do you think? Did a UFO visit New York City on an interstellar quest for cronuts?

]]>http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/12/ufo-spotted-over-the-statue-of-liberty/feed/0The Day Mysterious Fireballs and Men in Black Descended on Philadelphiahttp://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/03/the-day-mysterious-fireballs-and-men-in-black-descended-on-philadelphia/
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/03/the-day-mysterious-fireballs-and-men-in-black-descended-on-philadelphia/#commentsThu, 13 Mar 2014 00:30:00 +0000http://mysteriousuniverse.org/?p=29081There’s a lot we don’t understand about this world of ours. And by ‘world’ I mean the cosmos, the universe…this reality we inhabit. There is stuff that happens that just doesn’t make any sense. Sometimes it’s easy to pass it off as lies, or hoax, or even...]]>

There’s a lot we don’t understand about this world of ours. And by ‘world’ I mean the cosmos, the universe…this reality we inhabit. There is stuff that happens that just doesn’t make any sense. Sometimes it’s easy to pass it off as lies, or hoax, or even just delusion, but other times, in honest inquiry, it’s harder to dismiss the weird goings on in our world.

Some weird stories get overlooked too. For whatever reason they don’t catch the eye of those equipped to analyse and understand the features of such a story, but thanks to the archival nature of our culture, many of those obscure stories are still available to be discovered and explained.

One such case is that of Mrs. Louise Matthews from Philadelphia. It happened some time during the summer of 1960, and by ‘it’, I mean the fireball incident.

It seems that Louise, on one summer afternoon, was lounging on her living room sofa, when she happened to look up toward a nearby window, just in time to see a large glowing fireball descending through the glass and Venetian window blinds. Miraculously, neither the window nor the blinds were damaged by this, however Louise didn’t fare quite so well.

Upon entering her home, the fireball passed near her head, as she buried her face in the sofa cushions in terror. She heard a sizzling sound, and in an effort to protect herself, she reached her hand around and shielded the back of her head, exclaiming “Oh Lord not like this!” Then, without any further effect, the fireball passed through the room and left the house via another window.

Dazed and confused by the experience, Louise took stock of her person and found that her head and hand were burned, and that the hair on the back of her head was falling out in clumps. She claimed that the hair was changed – felt wiry and brittle – and she was understandably panicked by the experience.

She ran from her home into the street, screaming and hysterical, and was met by neighbours who gasped at the state of her head. Her husband, later, broke into tears at the sight of her, and feared that the incident had been a warning from God.

All of this was recounted for a reported with The Afro American, a local newspaper, who printed the story on page 5 of their June 4, 1960 edition.

So what was this fireball? Are we looking at an early encounter of an orb type UFO? Or was this something else? The reported likened the fireball to a meteor, sensationalized by the subtitle “Great Balls of Fire!” Which is probably a more apt description anyway. Among the many varieties of UFO’s reported around the world, the orb type UFO seems to be gaining popularity. And by that I mean only that reports of that nature seem to be happening more frequently than in previous years. Skeptics and UFOlogists have their own pet theories as to why that might be the case, ranging from cultural contamination to the appearance of new technologies sponsored by either some extraterrestrial entity or a nameless military complex. But the UFO angle might be the more accurate way to look at this particular story.

It turns out that shortly after Louise contacted the Afro American to relay her story, she was visited by two strange men at her home. The men, dressed in black suits, asked her questions about her encounter and collected the hair that had fallen from her head. They then, curiously, told her that she should feel good that she’d probably helped in “saving the nation”. They also warned her not to talk about her experience, as is typical of such a story.

I’m sure I needn’t point out the obvious reference to the Men in Black conspiracy theory, but it does seem prudent to point out that, given the date of this story, the Men In Black ideology had yet to become a cultural phenomenon, which, at least to me, suggests that the encounter might have some truth to it.

The earliest reports of Men in Black encounters, or MiB, come out of the mid-1940’s, and though they fairly quickly became a staple feature of UFO related experiences since then, they didn’t become a cultural meme until well through the 1950’s, with books like Gray Barker’s They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers (1956). Of course, that popularity was even then confined to those people who sought out such information, and a widespread familiarity with MiB didn’t occur until many years later, through comic books based on Barker’s book and the MiB movie franchise.

Now nearly everyone knows what the MiB are and what an encounter with them might be like. However, in 1960, that familiarity wasn’t nearly as widespread. That, to me, suggests that it’s unlikely that Louise might have conflated the MiB phenomenon with her experience.

The story seems to be corroborated by the inclusion of accounts from her neighbours, claiming to have seen her the day before the event, when she apparently sported a healthy and full head of hair. This story, while obscure has made its way into a few books, such as Juanita Rose Violini’s Almanac of the Infamous, the Incredible, and the Ignored (2009), but it may be that the lack of attention it received is because it amounts to little more than a fun story (fun for the reader, not for Louise, obviously).

The newspaper article offers a grainy picture of Mrs. Matthew’s head and her resultant, and unfortunate, hairstyle, but that’s really all there is to corroborate the experience. Did a mysterious fireball enter her home, violating the laws of physics the whole way? Did it burn her, perhaps with some form of radiation? Did the Men in Black pay her a visit in an effort to cover up the experience? Or did she make the whole thing up? I don’t have those answers, but this story, and a host of others like it, add to the mounting pile of evidence that we are not alone in the cosmos.

]]>http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/03/the-day-mysterious-fireballs-and-men-in-black-descended-on-philadelphia/feed/1The Paranormal Mind: How Humans Haunt Themselveshttp://mysteriousuniverse.org/2013/02/the-paranormal-mind-how-humans-haunt-themselves/
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2013/02/the-paranormal-mind-how-humans-haunt-themselves/#commentsThu, 07 Feb 2013 00:03:13 +0000http://mysteriousuniverse.org/?p=18791“Micah, come quick,” she said. I could already hear the stress in my mother’s voice, and my concern was mounting as I ran out to my car, still holding my cell phone to my ear while my mother explained the strange something that had erupted out of thin air right...]]>

“Micah, come quick,” she said. I could already hear the stress in my mother’s voice, and my concern was mounting as I ran out to my car, still holding my cell phone to my ear while my mother explained the strange something that had erupted out of thin air right before her eyes, and then vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

“I have no idea what it was, just hurry,” she asked again. By now, I was already driving, and before hanging up the phone, I had worked to try and console her about the worrisome “apparition,” for lack of a better term, that had appeared in my parent’s living room. Had the otherwise quiet A-frame wooden structure, built by my father in the early 1980s, suddenly fallen victim to an inexplicable haunting?

Once I arrived, I entered the living room to find my mother sitting on the couch with a worried expression. “So what happened?” I began.

“Whatever it was had been floating in the air,” my mother said. “It was a strange blue ball of light, and I saw it hovering right there, ” she said as she pointed in my direction. “It was precisely where you’re standing now.”

I asked my mother to describe how the “apparition” had appeared. She began to explain that as she sat enjoying a small plate of fruit after returning home from work for the day, a bright blue swirling ball of light had appeared out of the corner of her eye.

“I saw it right there where you’re standing,” she said. Discussing the matter further, she told me that she was absolutely certain it had been an omen of some kind; something alerting her to trouble or ill fortune that might be occurring someplace else. “I immediately called your grandparents,” she said, expressing fear that her aging parents, both in their mid nineties, might have suddenly fallen ill. But upon making the call, albeit shaken by the odd orb of light she had seen, my mother was relieved as the mellow sound of my grandmother’s voice answered the call, assuring her from across town that both she and granddad William were fine.

I sat and spoke with my mother, who had recently also been stressed not only about her parent’s wellbeing, but a few health-related issues of her own just as well. She had recently been prescribed blood pressure medication by her doctor, and for the past several weeks had constantly been having to change her diet in order to meet the new requirements of a healthier lifestyle. Furthermore, my examination of the area where the “light” had appeared yielded no results; while I had initially been concerned about a faulty outlet nearby, or perhaps some other kind of electrical discharge that might have occurred, I could find no evidence of scorches or burns, nor any reason why an outlet nearby might have been emitting electrical sparks or other dangerous activity of the sort.

“Mom,” I confided in her finally, “I don’t doubt that you saw something,” I told her. “However, I wonder if this might not be a case of questioning whether the chicken or the egg came first.” I explained that, while she indeed may have witnessed some kind of strange, unexplained illumination, her interpretation of the phenomenon had been primarily negative. In other words, perhaps the stress her mind, and even her body had been under for the last few weeks, led her to reach an almost panicked state upon perceiving what she believed had been a ghostly apparition in the living room.

“Give it another couple of days,” I said to further comfort her. “I guarantee you’ll find that there were, in fact, no deaths or other ill fortune in conjunction with the ghost light you saw.” And as predicted, within a week all had returned to normal at the Hanks residence.

The story I’m relating here is not intended to be a dismissal of the presumed appearances of strange phenomenon at various locales. While I have written extensively myself on homes that do appear to be haunted, I do often wonder if there aren’t elements that could be underlying the “popular” notion of a ghostly manifestation (i.e. that ghosts are simply “spirits of the dead”) that stem back to the individual witness. As was the case during my research into the haunting that is said to be ongoing at Reynolds Mansion, while the actual owners living on-site at the historic mansion had claimed to see very little, a number of guests at the home (now operating publicly as a bed and breakfast) have nonetheless supplied their stories of ghostly apparitions they claim to have seen at the residence. Could it indeed be that some may be capable of “seeing” a ghost more often, or even more easily, than others?

Perhaps even more important is the question of how the individual who witnesses something wholly inexplicable chooses to interpret the phenomenon; a question about one’s world view does come into play somewhat here, and it becomes something of a matter of how one’s outlook on life will tend to gravitate toward conclusions based on the apparent presence of an apparition. In my mother’s case, a strange, orb-like phenomenon she claimed to have witnessed had seemed to indicate an impending tragedy when, in reality, no such tragedy had (or was even about to) occur. Without having to doubt whether or not anything had been seen by y mother on this occasion, could it be that certain otherwise explicable phenomenon are witnessed from time to time by individuals who merely interpret the phenomenon as being evidence of something it is not? How often might this interpretation lead one to believe that a house might be haunted?

]]>http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2013/02/the-paranormal-mind-how-humans-haunt-themselves/feed/1Paranormal Orbs: More Normal Than You Thinkhttp://mysteriousuniverse.org/2010/04/paranormal-orbs-more-normal-than-you-think/
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2010/04/paranormal-orbs-more-normal-than-you-think/#commentsThu, 29 Apr 2010 05:46:48 +0000http://mysteriousuniverse.org/?p=2314Have you ever visited a location alleged to be “haunted,” camera in hand, and upon reviewing photographs taken in the area, found what appeared to be glowing balls of light hovering in the environment? For years, those who have studied paranormal phenomenon have argued that these strange...]]>

Have you ever visited a location alleged to be “haunted,” camera in hand, and upon reviewing photographs taken in the area, found what appeared to be glowing balls of light hovering in the environment?

For years, those who have studied paranormal phenomenon have argued that these strange objects are evidence of actual ghostly presences, transferred onto film (or digital images) via the same electromagnetic process that allows popular devices used for EM-field detection to register in old houses–but could their ultimate cause be the presence of supernatural energies?

Debate regarding the plausibility of the strange little “orbs” has continued for years, but now one group says they have been able to determine once and for all that the objects in question aren’t ghosts, bizarre energies, or anything out of this world.

The ParaScience organization has released a detailed report at its website which makes the assertion that what we see when apparent little balls of light show up in photographs are actually dust and tiny airborne objects:

“This comprehensive survey strongly supports the hypothesis that orbs are simply the result of dust and other airborne material drifting close to the camera and reflecting the flash illumination back toward the image sensor and provides long overdue definitive evidence that their origin lies firmly within the mundane and explainable, not the paranormal or supernatural.”

I too was initially skeptical about orb-related phenomenon, and after studying the subject for close to a decade (including time spent with the L.E.M.U.R. team between 2004 and 2010), I remain certain these strange little photographic anomalies are only that: anomalies specific to film, rather than invisible denizens of another realm that become apparent only when struck by the flash of a camera. Insects, dust and fragments of tiny airborne debris are the likely (and some would say obvious) culprits… but there are still differing perspectives on this.

For instance, on one occasion years ago, I had the chance to question a college professor named Dr. Lee Swendsen Ph.D. about the phenomenon. Swendsen was also a member of a skeptical organization called CSICOP, which since that time has changed its acronym to CSI which, more simply, stands for “The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.” Regardless, their focus and mission have not changed, and I thought that picking Swendsen’s brain about the bizarre objects appearing in the photos I had taken might be fruitful (keep in mind, I had been using a film camera, since at the time digital photography was not yet the respected norm it has become today). Reviewing the photos, Swendsen’s on-the-spot analysis surprised me: “I wouldn’t say that these ‘orbs’ represent anything ghostly,” he told me. “But I don’t think it can very easily be ruled out that they might indicate the presence of some kind of energy.” Whatever was appearing in the photos, he believed it was energetic, and that the camera was perceiving it as such.

Others have acknowledged the fact that dust particles are indeed the primary cause, but that electromagnetic anomalies in some areas cause tiny concentrations of bits of dust and other airborne matter, which are more likely to become prevalent when illuminated by flashes from a camera. Even if the source of the so-called “orbs” is rather mundane, could there be any scientific elements associated with their presence that remains mysterious? Could electromagnetism and geomagnetic activity affect concentrations of airborne dust in ways other than those we’d expect, or must we accept that the mysterious “orbs” just aren’t very mysterious after all?

]]>http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2010/04/paranormal-orbs-more-normal-than-you-think/feed/17Bright Lights that Hypnotize: Mysterious Aerial Illuminationshttp://mysteriousuniverse.org/2010/02/bright-lights-that-hypnotize-mysterious-aerial-illuminations/
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2010/02/bright-lights-that-hypnotize-mysterious-aerial-illuminations/#commentsFri, 26 Feb 2010 22:32:09 +0000http://mysteriousuniverse.org/?p=1833Occasionally we see strange things in the sky that defy logic, and inspire the imagination to wonder whether odd facets of our existence are actually acting on us in our daily lives in ways we can’t comprehend. For the most part, these occurrences are completely random happenings;...]]>

Occasionally we see strange things in the sky that defy logic, and inspire the imagination to wonder whether odd facets of our existence are actually acting on us in our daily lives in ways we can’t comprehend. For the most part, these occurrences are completely random happenings; a mere matter of being “at the right place at the right time.” But what happens when you have locations around the world where anomalous activity not only occurs repeatedly, but predictably?

One such area is the Lineville Gorge, nestled in the Black Mountain Range in Western North Carolina. Although the Southeastern United States is home to a variety of strange phenomenon that captivates the area locals (and researchers abroad), near the vicinity of Brown Mountain, a long, looming ridge in the heart of the Gorge, a spectacular display of “ghost lights” can be seen on a frequent basis which continue to defy rational explanation.

Dubbed “The Brown Mountain Lights” by the locals, the lights are actually seen all throughout the Lineville Gorge, and are variously described as bright, glowing orbs of colored light that manifest and drift slowly upward, sometimes behaving so strangely that witnesses have been led to wonder whether they might somehow be “controlled” by external forces.

During a recent television shoot I participated in with the National Geographic Channel, my associates in the North Carolina-based L.E.M.U.R. Paranormal Investigations group and I managed to capture a spectacular display of odd illuminations while cameras were rolling. Below is a sneak preview of the new program, called Paranatural, which will be airing soon and appearing on the web to view:

]]>http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2010/02/bright-lights-that-hypnotize-mysterious-aerial-illuminations/feed/18Orb UFO Videotaped over Pennsylvaniahttp://mysteriousuniverse.org/2009/08/orb-ufo-videotaped-over-pennsylvania/
http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2009/08/orb-ufo-videotaped-over-pennsylvania/#commentsSat, 22 Aug 2009 06:29:50 +0000http://mysteriousuniverse.org/?p=258A Murrysville, PA family has reported an object captured on video, one of several they have sighted according to a report on the Mutual UFO Network Database (MUFON). The sighting took place on August 17, 2009. The witness says she pulled over after her daughter noticed flashing...]]>

A Murrysville, PA family has reported an object captured on video, one of several they have sighted according to a report on the Mutual UFO Network Database (MUFON). The sighting took place on August 17, 2009.

The witness says she pulled over after her daughter noticed flashing lights near a farm on Ader Road. After a brief exchange with the land owner, who told the pair of a saucer sighting his father had experienced in the early 70’s, the witnesses observed a “large bright yellow-ish orb light over the farm field”.

Video after the jump…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8Jq5rJZrgg[/youtube]

They claim the object “hovered, dimmed, then showed back up higher, brighter, double the size” but unfortunately there is nothing here to give perspective on size or distance.

It gets more interesting in the second video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47vT7b0Sftc[/youtube]

The witness claims she “busted it going from 1 bright ball of light into a “fake plane” UFO that I’ve seen and filmed before”.

At one stage in the video three lights can bee seen in a triangle formation which is consistent with the formations seen in previous objects the witness has caught on video.